Statement by H.E. Mr. Nursultan Nazarbayev,President of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Dear Heads of State and Government, Heads of delegations and international organizations,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me express sincere appreciation to the President of the People’s Republic of China, Mr. Xí Jìnpíng for warm hospitality and excellent arrangements of the Summit in Shanghai – one of the most beautiful metropolises of the world.

I am grateful to the President Abdulla Gul for Chairmanship.

This year marks 22 years since I put forward the idea of CICA at the 47th Session of the UN General Assembly and 12 years since the beginning of its practical operation.

It is symbolic that the present Summit is the most representational in all its history. It united 26 Member States, 7 Observers, 4 international organizations as well as guests of the Forum. Today the State of Qatar and People’s Republic of Bangladesh have become CICA members. Along with their accession the borders and geography of our Forum have considerably expanded. I hope that other states of Asia will also join CICA in the nearest future.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are currently observing sweeping changes in the existing world order. It is becoming less secure; entirely new challenges and threats are emerging; and the principles of the international law is changing. It makes our Forum more in demand and requires more solidarity and qualitative implementation of CICA goals and tasks. In recent last few years Member States of the Conference have done considerable work in development of key directions of CICA activity. I believe that adoption of the Concept of Confidence Building Measures in military-political dimension deserves special attention. The first joint step taken in this direction was the adoption of the CICA Declaration on Eliminating Terrorism and Promoting Dialogue among Civilizations. Kazakhstan welcomes signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between CICA and SCO.

Dear participants of the Summit,

Asia is the cradle of all traditional religions with good prospects of development and prosperity.

At the same time, Asian region today is the zone of maximum concentration of states possessing nuclear weapons and actively augmenting their military potential. In 1991 Kazakhstan voluntarily renounced its nuclear arsenal which was the fourth largest in the world. We closed the Semipalatinsk Nuclear Site, where more than 500 tests were conducted.

At our initiative the UN announced 29 August, the day of closing the site, as the International Day against Nuclear Tests.At the same time, the absence of collective thinking, deficit of trust and openness in relations between countries is still remaining. It can seriously undermine the entire process of nuclear non-proliferation, negate all the success achieved during the last decade, including within the framework of the Global Summits on Nuclear Security. This is why I proposed to elaborate and adopt the UN Universal Declaration on a nuclear-weapon-free world.

I was and remain consistent supporter of this idea. Further expansion of regional nuclear-weapon-free zones serves a good basis for its realization. In the beginning of this month, five NPT nuclear-weapon States signed the Protocol on negative security guarantees to the Central Asia Nuclear-Weapon-Free Zone Treaty. This event is an important historical landmark both in strengthening the security of Central Asian region and global regime of non-proliferation. We hope that in future analogous zones will also be established for other regions which accept nuclear-free status.

For many countries, solving the problems of poverty, unemployment, lack of food depends on the development of peaceful nuclear energy. Establishment of International Bank of Low-Enriched Uranium under IAEA auspices in our country will make significant contribution to solving this problem. Kazakhstan welcomes the continuation of dialogue on Iran's nuclear program, which will play a crucial role in ensuring regional security. There are serious concerns regarding plans of DPRK to conduct regular nuclear tests. This could have serious implications for peace and security in the Asia -Pacific region.

Dear Colleagues,

There are still many areas that require attention in terms of security. Stabilization of the situation in Afghanistan is among them. We welcome the holding of presidential elections in Afghanistan, which are intended to be an important step towards a peaceful transfer of power in the country. Kazakhstan supports efforts of the international community to resolve the situation in Syria. We advocate early stabilization of the situation in North Africa and the Middle East countries. We encourage all the parties involved in Ukraine for peaceful dialogue to stabilize the political situation.

Ladies and gentlemen!

Expansion of economic cooperation is one of the CICA key activities. Today Asia becomes the "locomotive of the world economy".

Six Asian countries are members of the Group of 20 leading economies in the world. CICA Member States account for one third of global GDP. Economic development of our region largely determines the global trends. Existing formats today, such as G-8, G-20 and other groupings have not yet been able to develop effective measures to overcome the negative impact of the economic world crisis. For this reason, in 2012 I initiated «G-GLOBAL». This platform includes the fundamental principles of the world in the 21st century. It includes more than 100 countries.

These principles include: evolution, justice, equality, consensus; global tolerance and trust; global transparency and constructive multi-polarity. Project «G-GLOBAL» helps to find effective solutions, both at global and regional levels. One of the most pressing issues is to ensure food security. Today Asia accounts for 60 % of the global hunger. To overcome this problem comprehensive efforts of all states in the region are required. This includes the necessity to elaborate long the line concrete CICA mechanisms related to food production and provision of access of agricultural production to Asian markets. For the agricultural sector, as well as other industries, the key is creation of affordable and good transport infrastructure. Good basis for creating this is revival of the Great Silk Road. The idea of ​​the President Xi Jinping on creating infrastructure fund of the Silk Road is very important.

Combining Asia and Europe will be the largest route transportation system in the world, with headquarter in Almaty.

Next year, Kazakhstan will launch highway "Western Europe - Western China", which will shorten by 2.5 times the period for delivery of goods to world markets. Also with our neighbors, we are building new railway access lines to China and Southeast Asia through the port of Lianyungang, completing the construction of the railway in Iran and the Gulf countries. All this is a modern New Silk Road.

With the growth of the global economy, the problem of access to modern technology and energy resources is becoming increasingly urgent. By the year 2020, energy imports in Asian countries will reach 80 %. These requirements determine the contribution of Kazakhstan to the ongoing development of the region as a country that is a significant player in the global energy market. At the same time it is necessary to undertake development of alternative energy sources and development of environmentally friendly technologies. Astana will host the international exhibition "EXPO" on "Energy for the future", in 2017. We invite the CICA Member-states to take an active part in its work.

Integration choice of any country is a matter of people's welfare. It is in this context that Kazakhstan is forming the Eurasian Economic Union with Russia and Belarus. This association is based on principles of voluntary participation, equality, mutual benefit and with account of national interests of each Member State. Eurasian Union will become a bridge to strengthen economic and trade ties between Asia and Europe.

Dear Colleagues,

I am confident that the time has come to create an effective and efficient Organization for Security and Development in Asia (OSDA) on the basis of CICA. It should make a healthy competition to OSCE, which has been unable to stop coup in Kiev. West is isolated from the East and is unable to develop sustainably and make a claim to monopoly in seeking truth without any mutual cooperation and understanding, in absence of the eastern traditions and values.

The global crisis, which came into the world six years ago, is still here. It grows engulfing one area after another: financial, economical, socio-political on to cultural and spiritual. This is a crisis for all parties and outdated model of world development. This general civilization crisis is systemic. Therefore, it is necessary for the countries of Asia to engage in peaceful development of the continent. OSDA can become as an important tool in this process.

I urge the leaders of the CICA Member States not to postpone the solution of this issue. Confucius said: "Mutual trust is a basis of friendship". This truth could become one of the postulates of the future international organization.